Hi all: This will also be of interest.. Regards Ed G The Toronto Star, 2001/04/06 "Culture in an Age of Free Trade" Robert Pilon of the Coalition for Cultural Diversity, an alliance of 30 groups representing artists, broadcasters and publishers, appeared before Ottawa�s committee on foreign affairs and trade this week to discuss the Free Trade Area of the Amnericas. He presented a paper, "Cultural Policy Must Not Be Subject To The Constraints of International Trade Agreements." This is an edited excerpt: A book, a play, a film, a television show, a sound recording or a painting, each, of course, is often a "good" or a "service" in a market economy. These are goods and services that are traded, domestically and sometimes internationally, and that are often produced by private enterprises, especially in the cultural sectors known as the cultural industry. But these cultural goods and services cannot be seen in economic terms alone; they are much more than simply tradable commodities. A book, a film or a song is first and foremost a medium through which a creator shares his vision of the world with the citizens of his community, whether a city, a region, a nation, a country or the planet as a whole. The role of creators and artists in society is primarily to accompany their fellow citizens in their daily quest to understand, experience and change the reality of the world. A book, a film, a song or any other creative work is a presence that is with us at all times, from morning to night, from birth to death, at every moment and every turning point in our personal, family and social lives. The social purpose of every creative work is to move us, to touch us, to teach us, to make us think, laugh and cry; to lead us to expand our horizons, to question established truths; to open our minds, introduce us to new values, teach us new realities; to challenge the established order while helping society find new consensus. No society has been able to survive and flourish in the past without recognizing the fundamental social role played by artistic creation and without integrating into and supporting within it the development of culture. This will be even more true of the future. A society without culture, with out creation, without artists, is a society condemned to stagnation, to withdrawal; a society without soul, without dynamism, in a word, without the vitality that is the very essence of life. That is why most societies have always recognized the unique status of cultural works and productions, and that is why cultural "goods" and "services" are not commodities like any other and cannot be treated as such. For culture to truly fulfill its social role, the members of a given community must have access to a wide range of cultural works and productions; they must have access to cultural diversity, to the diversity of cultural expression. Indeed, the very notion of culture is inextricably linked to the notion of cultural diversity and, conversely, totally incompatible with the idea of cultural homogeneity.
